EE2, EE2X - Empire Earth II - Unofficial Patch 1.6 (2014+)

[PaulStretch]

All your work is greatly appreciated. This games wouldn't be what it is without you

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Minor update 158023 has been released!

Update Type: Monthly Update. Changes: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#158023

- New BETA feature: "Advanced Cache Preloading", disabled by default, configurable by UP1.5 Settings:
* When enabled, Unofficial Patch 1.5 uses the new advanced methods to preload certain game files to the game cache on launch. It increases the time needed for the game process to start and causes much higher RAM usage, but reduces the number of mini-freezes that could occur e.g. when a sound, texture or model was loaded in the game for the first time. This feature uses the original game caching functions, so memory is not wasted and might be released by the game process when needed.
- Fixed compatibility with Gog version 54517:
* Fixed an issue where UP1.5 Launcher could continuously ask to change the screen resolution on Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy start. Thanks for the report to players: "sirphr" and "Hacker?pcs".
* The latest game files update from Gog could remove UP1.5 Launcher files. In this case, please re-install UP1.5 from the official download page: https://ee2.eu/patch
* Added an additional module which detects if the game / launcher files were overwritten. It shows an error with detailed information and helps to recover the UP1.5 installation.
- Updated calsch03's "Survival Egypt (survival game mode)" scenario on his request. Renamed the "Easy" mode name to "Short" and updated an AI player for slot 2.
- Updated some texts in Bogdan's "Cold War 1965" scenario on his request.

If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking: empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall

[manan001]

It would be great in next update if we have ore deadly missiles and range of modern weapons. War becomes much difficult and interesting. If anyone has any suggestion. Rest for Mod team if they can accept this request for addition of more deadly missiles.

[Dr.MonaLisa]

It would be great in next update if we have ore deadly missiles and range of modern weapons. War becomes much difficult and interesting. If anyone has any suggestion. Rest for Mod team if they can accept this request for addition of more deadly missiles.

The similar answer has been provided there: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1723&p=25862

Unofficial Patch 1.5 is a real patch, not just a mod. Therefore the modding requests like this one have a very low chance to be available in the patch.

The main problem is, that Unofficial Patch 1.5 has no alternative. Adding too much stuff to the game could negatively affect the gameplay, change the original balance or simply make some users dislike such changes. Stronger nuclear weapons could risk this strategy to be abused in Multiplayer games, which would result in total strategy / balance change compared to the vanilla game. Most of units / buildings that are currently available in UP1.5 have their costs higher than they should be. It's to prevent usage in the normal games, or not to give the chance of being used at the game start. There's a new nuclear weapon already available (Super ICBM) and it deals a lot of more damage / area than the original ICBMs. However, I can't imagine usage of even stronger weapons in this game. It would ruin fun for certain players, especially in the multiplayer mode.

I think it's best to keep 1.5 as minimal as possible (in the meaning of additional game units), and focus on the serious things like crash fixes, multiplayer improvements, etc. The ideas regarding extra stuff in game could still be posted on the forum. Maybe some other player decides to create a mod based on UP1.5 Developers Version, where such things would be available. Unfortunately, as I wrote, UP1.5 has too many users, too much trust from players over years, that we can't risk irresponsible changes to the game.

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Minor update 158024 has been released! (04.09.2022)

Update Type: Monthly Update. Changes: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#158024

- Fixed a bug in EE2: AOS, where the laser color was dark red instead of yellow. It was visible for example in Gatling Laser (Anti-Air in epoch 15), HERCs and wall towers (epoch 14).
- Balance Changes: Some of units and buildings with Laser / Plasma beams can now break through the Hades-class HERC's Anti-Missile shield:
* Hera-class HERC.
* Wall Tower in epoch 14+.
* Plasma Turret (1.5). Unfortunately, the projectile graphics are a bit worse now.
* All of the updated units use the new laser sounds which differ for each of them.
* WARNING: This update will make game playbacks played in epochs 14+ incompatible (they will hang/stop) due to incorrect synchronization. Game saves should not be affected.
- Hera-class HERC Repairing Effect: added the sound, changed the laser size and color to green, and improved the splash effect.
- Minotaur Heavy HERC: updated the attack sound.
- Improved option "Render on Secondary Monitor". It is now possible to select the Adapter Index in UP1.5 Settings. It is useful when there are more than 2 displays connected. Thanks for the report to player "Redleg".
- Added the new custom configuration commands which can be inserted in UP1.5 Settings:
* "AutomaticFontSizeDisableCitizenManagerCursorFixes=1" - disables the Citizen Manager Cursor font size fixes added in updates 158011 and 158012. Added on request from player "Rando".
* "EnableNewAmbientSoundsOnDisabledUP15UnitsVersion=1" - allows you to use the new UP1.5 ambient sounds (from update 158015), even when option "Unlock UP1.5 units, buildings, models, sounds..." is switched to "No". Added on request from player "Rifes".
- Added information to the in-game Chat window that it also decides which players receive your flares.
- Added updated version of Bogdan's scenarios on his request: "Cold War 1965", "Korean War 1950", "North African Campaign", "Save Byzantium".

If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking: empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall



Minor update 158025 has been released!

Update Type: Feature Update. Changes: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#158025

- NEW FEATURE: Added new options to the Maximization Helper & Game Tweaker window:
* "Detect keyboard layout changes": When checked, allows UP1.5_GameHelper.dll to detect the keyboard layout changes and to call required in-game functions which make the new input language fully functional. When unchecked (default EE2 behavior), a game restart is required to reload the keyboard layout settings. This option is now enabled by default.
* "Input language fix": When checked, UP1.5_GameHelper.dll prioritizes the keyboard layout settings based on the actual keyboard input option selected. For example, originally in EE2, when a Windows display language is English, but the selected keyboard is German, the game still does not allow you to type characters like ä, ö, ü, and ß. Thanks to this option users will no longer notice issues like this. This option is disabled by default to prevent unknown issues, but it's recommended to try it.
* "Enable EAX": Enables the Environmental Audio Extensions in Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy. This option was moved from the Game Settings -> Audio, because the checkbox was not working correctly, and the EAX option was always unchecked on the Settings menu revisit. Unfortunately, it could not be fixed in game using Unofficial Patch 1.5, that's why the option was moved to Maximization Helper, so UP1.5 Launcher and UP1.5_GameHelper.dll take care of it.
* Changing the status of these new options has an immediate effect (no game restart is required).
- Fixed a bug where the "EAX" option has NEVER worked in Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy.
- NEW FEATURE: Added timestamps to all chat messages sent in lobby, hosted game rooms, private messages.

If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking: empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Minor update 158026 has been released!

Update Type: Hotfix Update. Changes: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#158026

- Fixed an issue where messages were not displaying in game chat on Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy, after update 158025.
- Improved the fix from update 158008 which removes the extra message color and formatting information from the copied text from the multiplayer lobby chats. It now works with the recent timestamp feature. Additionally disabled the sound notification when the fix is activated, because it was not very needed.

If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking: empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall

[Bogdan]

Thanks for the update, Mona! It's been a long time since May, I'm glad you are continuing working on the patch. Thank you!

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Update 159001 (aka Unofficial Patch 1.5.9) has been released!

Update Type: Core Release. Changes log: https://www.ee2.eu/patch/changes/#159001

- Included changes from all minor updates 158000-158026.
- Added new icons for UP1.5 units and buildings, created by Loewenherz. They now use the same background style and frames as EE2 originals.
- Added Loewenherz's Mars and space textures for scenarios and maps (available in the Map Editor).
- TL;DR The borderless windowed mode and rendering on secondary monitors is now fully functional and bug-free.
- "Exclusive Borderless Windowed Mode" (activated and deactivated by the ALT+ENTER hotkey) improvements:
* UP15_GameHelper.dll is now removing the window title bar and borders fully, so the other workarounds from update 157021 are no longer used.
* Fixed (minimally) incorrect window height and distorted aspect ratio on Windows 11.
* It reduces the number of times the windows taskbar still remains on the screen.
* REMINDER: You can use the CTRL+F9 hotkey (toggle on/off Constrain Cursor) to move the mouse cursor outside of the game window.
- Improved option "Render on Secondary Monitor":
* The Borderless Windowed Mode now starts with the correct screen coordinates, based on the selected Adapter Index in UP1.5 Settings.
* Added a new Adapter Index option: "Auto", which automatically selects the monitor on game start, depending on where your mouse cursor (e.g. moved UP1.5 Launcher window) is on.
* Fixed a bug where the game was calling the function "EnumDisplaySettings" only for the primary monitor, so bigger screen resolutions on secondary displays could be unavailable in game. It could also result in the error on game start: "FATAL PROBLEM: Failed to find any Direct3D display mode supported by your monitor". UP15_GameHelper.dll is now obtaining the correct monitor from the DirectX adapter index, getting its device name and pushing it as the function parameter. Thanks for the report to player "ReaLadge".
- Added a new custom configuration option "WindowedModeDontPauseOrMute=1" (enabled by default):
* When UP15_GameHelper.dll detects that the game is currently in the windowed mode - it applies fixes that prevent the game from pausing or audio from getting muted when the game window loses focus. It reverts these fixes when the game window becomes fullscreen again (e.g. ALT+ENTER hotkey press).
* Additionally, this option fixes a problem where other games can not constrain the cursor (for camera scrolling on borders) on the side where a monitor with running EE2 is. It's because EE2 was intercepting the mouse cursor whenever it was getting close to the game window.
- Improved the "Take Screen Shot" function using DirectX 9 (DX8 to DX9 converter):
* Added new custom configuration commands which can be inserted in UP1.5 Settings:
# UseNewScreenshotsMethodInDX9=1 | When enabled (default), use the new screenshots capturing method.
# ScreenshotsInDX9UsePNGInsteadOfBMP=1 | When enabled (default), save screenshots to PNG format instead of BMP (CTRL+PrtScn hotkey).
# ScreenshotsJPEGQuality=80 | Allows you to configure the quality of JPG screenshots (PrtScn hotkey). 0 = default compression. Available values from 1 to 100, where 1 is the strongest compression (lowest file size), and 100 is the lowest compression (biggest file size).
* Fixed a game crash (0x00acad91, 0x00b80b91) when taking screenshots, when the game window doesn't fully fit the active monitor (windowed mode).
* Fixed a bug where taking screenshots on secondary monitors could cause a game crash or result in cropped images.
- Enabled V-Sync by default in the windowed mode. It now respects the status of option: "Disable V-Sync" from UP1.5 Settings.
- "Advanced Cache Preloading" improvements: Added the caching progress status (percent finished, total number of files to cache, number and filename of the file currently being cached).
- Added detection of an occasionally occurring bug where the game process is running in the background, while no game window exists. In the past users had to manually terminate the game process by the Task Manager in order to be able to start a new instance of the game. UP15_GameHelper.dll Watchdog Thread is now detecting this problem and displays a message box where it's possible to kill the game process with a single click.
- Updated libraries used by UP1.5 Launcher and DLLs in order to improve security and reliability:
* Libcurl to ver. 7.86.0 | Boost to ver. 1.80.0 | Openssl to ver. 3.0.5 | Zlib to ver. 1.2.13 | Discord GameSDK to ver. 3.2.1.
- Multiplayer Lobby: Removed incorrect, duplicated timestamp of messages sent on the lobby while you were in an active multiplayer game.
- NEW FEATURE: Added a new option to UP1.5 Settings: "AI-Enhanced Menu Video":
* Allows the game to use the AI-Enhanced version of the looped background menu video (in 16:9 aspect ratio). It results in a much higher quality of the background video, but increases the CPU% usage in the menu, and might result in lower FPS in the menu on low-end computers.
* This option is automatically enabled if you use a monitor with the aspect ratio greater than ~1.5 (width divided by height), e.g 16:10, 16:9, 21:9.
- "Green economy, blah, blah, blah. Climate-neutral, blah, blah, blah" - Greta Thunberg.
* Added a new custom configuration option: "PauseBinkVideoWhenGameWindowIsInactive=1" (enabled by default). It allows UP15_GameHelper.dll to decide when to pause the background video in order to save CPU load when the game window is currently minimized, inactive or the mouse pointer is on another monitor. It results in power saving and lower CO2 emission from players who often minimize the game e.g. when they're waiting for a game on multiplayer lobby.
- UP1.5 Units Balance Changes:
* Changed the healing speed of Ambulances from 15 to 5 health points per second.
* Reduced Snipers reload time by 25% (from 12 to 9 in epoch 13).
* Increased the maximum range of Super ICBMs in Ballistic Missile Silo from 256 to 1500. ICBM stands for "Intercontinental" for a reason.
- DEPRECATED FEATURES:
* Option "Fix for graphics bugs (no fire/explosion) on Intel HD graphics cards" has been removed. It's still available as "Fix for graphics bugs (no fire/explosion) in DirectX 9", but requires the option "Enable DirectX 9" to be checked.
- KNOWN ISSUES:
* Intel's 12th Gen processors integrated graphics have an issue where the text is not displaying in Empire Earth II. It's because their drivers use D3D9On12 to support old games. The issue was reported to Microsoft. Read more: https://github.com/microsoft/D3D9On12/issues/57
# A new custom configuration command is available: "UseD3D9On12InDirectX9=1". It allows all users to try the DirectX 12 mode (D3D9On12) in Empire Earth II. Thanks to "elishacloud" for help in adding this option.

If you have got UP1.5.5+, you can update by clicking: empireearth2://FunctionMinorVersionInstall

[STEVE.NACHOWICZ]

Dr Mona Lisa,

I recently got a new generation of player interested in EE2; my nine year old son now wants to have a multiplayer battle with me. I have the GOG version on my computer and it continues to give me the "damaged installation" popup. I unchecked the update box as recommended, but continue to have issues even though I have downloaded the patch three times. The patch is running well on an older computer which has EE2 installed from CD (I found my original CD's in sleeves with the original codes on them!) Any assistance would be welcome- we both really want to play.

Thanks,
Steve

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Hi Steve.

Can you please show what "damaged installation" popup is it?

Is this something like this?

wstring ErrorTitle = L"Unofficial Patch 1.5 - Damaged Installation";
wstring ErrorMessage = EE2Name + L" is unable to start, because your Unofficial Patch 1.5 installation is damaged.\n\nThis usually occurs when the GOG GALAXY application overwrites some of game files.\n\nTo fix this problem, please install Unofficial Patch 1.5 again from:\n\nhttps://ee2.eu/patch\n\nYou don't need to uninstall the patch before installing it again.\n\nIf you often experience this error, please uncheck option \"Automatically update to newest version\" in GOG GALAXY Game Settings -> Manage Installation -> Configure...\n\nIf you don't use GOG GALAXY and you encounter this error, please send a message on the Support Chat in Unofficial Patch 1.5 Launcher to get help.";

If yes, then it's because Gog Galaxy overwritten some of Unofficial Patch 1.5 files. In this case, if you disabled the "auto updates" in the Gog Galaxy app, you should install UP1.5 again, from https://ee2.eu/patch
After that the problem should be gone. Please make sure you're installing the patch to the right folder. It's possible that you have multiple installations of the game.

If that doesn't help, please click on this link from the computer with the problem:
empireearth2://GenerateMD5Checksums-Rep ... ve-EndNick

It will ask you to open UP1.5 Launcher with the report generation command. When finished, please paste the generated report link to this topic, so I can see what files are incorrect in your game folder.

Added after 38 minutes 23 seconds:
Oh! I think I know what the problem might be. In Unofficial Patch 1.5.9: https://ee2.eu/patch/changes/#159001

— DEPRECATED FEATURES:
* Option "Fix for graphics bugs (no fire/explosion) on Intel HD graphics cards" has been removed. It's still available as "Fix for graphics bugs (no fire/explosion) in DirectX 9", but requires the option "Enable DirectX 9" to be checked.

This option used to automatically delete file "d3d8.dll" from the game folder, if this option was unchecked.

Since I removed this option (it had too complicated method of working, and prevented players from using different graphics enhancers), the "d3d8.dll" file is not longer deleted automatically. I will fix it in the next update. Until then, please simply delete file "d3d8.dll" from your game folder, and it should be fine. This is a file added by Gog Galaxy with their weird update.